Way back in 2005 someone said "Email is the universal API". This is what came to my mind when I found out and tried Posterous, a blog-by-email service. I think this service has a lot of potential for casual bloggers, and already has a few rather cool features regarding media embedding.
Blogging by email has always been a core feature of WordPress (or at least I think so, been a user since 1.01) but it has never evolved. You can't assign categories, you can't tag it, you can't embed images or any other kind of attachments. You can't do anything but raw text, which is sort of lame.
I think there are definitely a few features the WordPress folks should steal and improve from Posterous. WordPress has a nice gallery feature, right? Interface it with blog by email. WordPress knows podcast: make things so that when you email an MP3 it's added as a streamlined or downloadable audio track. Basically, WordPress does anything, anything should be doable via email.
A powerful blog-by-email feature would be great for WordPress (and a killer thing to add to wordpress.com too). I'm not always near a web browser with a (non firewalled) internet connection, but I almost always have an email client in the vicinity.
Any thoughts, readers? Did you ever, or would you, use a blog by email feature ?
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I would DEFINITELY agree with you there. Posting by email is probably one of the most useful, yet most neglected part of WordPress.
The only time I've actually used it is when posting to a blog using the Prologue theme where formatting and media are not needed…
I think this is a brilliant idea.
Although I'm enthusiastic about more features in WP, I'm so accustomed to posting my articles from within the (default) intranet, with all the TinyMCE bells and whistles, that I'd feel awkward posting by email.
Over time, I'd surely get a feel for this new posting method but at first, the whole thing would seem a bit off.
Thanks for discussing this matter ; )
You're right on the mark Ozh. I thought the same thing around a month ago. I'm developing a new plugin that will replace the wp-mail.php functionality.
The initial release will allow for full parsing of MIME messages. If you attach images, they will appear at the end of the post. If you embed images in the content, the image will be saved included in the post just as it was in the message. Essentially, you can send a full HTML-markup email and have it shown as a post.
I have the initial version working, but it needs a lot of back-end cleanup. My tentative name is WP Blog By Email. It should be released within the next week or two. Keep a look out for it and let me know if there are any features you'd like to see added.
Well it is time to discover this wonderful plugin : MailPress on wordpress.org …
arena ยป totally off topic …
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Hey, did anyone come up with a plugin that would allow posting by email with audio?
Hi there
You can already use WordPress with Posterous by setting up autopost. It works with Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and all other major blog platforms too.
Thanks for the blog post!
-Garry